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SWEDEN : Melodifestivalen FINAL – Live Blog – Join us 20:00 (CET)

The last Melodifestivalen LIVE BLOG of 2016 is right here for you! It seems like just a few minutes ago that Melfest kicked off and now here we are at the Grand Final of Europe’s biggest National Selection process for Eurovision. We eagerly perched on the edge of our seats to find out who will be flying the host nations flag in just a few weeks back here in Stockholm.

Pretty sure you know how it works: Just REFRESH the page to get our thoughts on the final line-up, their songs, performances, staging, clothes, hair, makeup – all the important stuff!

HOW TO WATCH

The show starts at 20:00 CET or 19:00 if you’re following us in Dublin, Cork, Limerick or Millstreet (shout out to Millstreet our 1993 hosts!) or anywhere else with a GMT view of life!!

LIVE BLOG – 20:00 CET – REFRESH THE PAGE FOR UPDATES

And today it’s me, Lisa-Jayne back for the LIVE BLOG. If you’ve followed me on here for the heats let me say it’s great to have you back and if this is the first time you’re tuning into one of our live blogs, then ‘woohoo’, I’m so glad you’ve found us!

And just so you know I am watching this whilst sitting on a Swedish sofa (you can guess where it’s from then!) Ok, I bought it second had from eBay, but it’s from Ikea originally so that’s Swedish enough for me!

My friends Heinz & Holger from Germany (we met in the queue for Eurovision’s Greatest Hits Concert in London last year and have been friends every since!) are in Stockholm for the final and sent me this picture earlier, apparently for 20 Kroner you can make your own Melodifestivalen sign at Panduro Hobby Shop just across from the Friends Arena, ready for tonight!! I love how the whole country gets behind Melfest and Eurovision, I wish it was the case across the whole continent…

Not sure any of what this opening piece of prose was, but she read it so well…

And here are our lovely hosts for this evening – William & Gina, Gina sporting another piece of interesting fashion, honestly this whole season of Melfest I’ve yet to see her in a decent dress!! They are telling Sweden how to vote at the moment…

After all the introductions we are now

The running order is set, here we go…

Panetoz – Håll Om Mig Hårt

5 piece boyband are first up tonight with their, slightly cheesy if I may say so, pop song Hall Om Mig Hart – I have to say I have no clue how this has made it to the final when other, much better songs have fallen by the wayside. I do like the fact that Sweden has a few songs in Swedish, but I’m sure there are better ones out there than this. In their defense, it’s fun and upbeat but it’s no Eurovision winner.

Lisa Ajax – My Heart Wants Me Dead

Next up is Lisa with My Heart Wants Me Dead. Has all the hallmarks of a classic anthem song that could do very well at Eurovision, but I wonder if it would be a little bit too forgettable amid a sea of songs in a similar vein that are in the mix for this year’s Eurovision. Vocally though Lisa is brilliant, the song really suits her style and if this ends up being the winner, then it’s really not a bad choice at all.

David Lindgren – We Are Your Tomorrow

I really think David’s song We Are Your Tomorrow takes too long to get going at the beginning, yes the build in a song is important but you only have three minutes and this song takes a while to reach it’s ‘beat’. That said it’s a great little pop song and David’s performance is good, kind of reminds me of a cross between Justin Beiber with a bit of retro Justin Timberlake thrown in for good measure.

SaRaha – Kizunguzungu

And suddenly the African continent arrives from out of nowhere but performed by the palest, blondest Swede they could find, although to be fair to her SaRaha did grow up in Tanzania! I absolutely love this song, despite it beating my girl Isa at Andra Chansen. Dance floor filler, you’d definitely get up and boogie if this came on at a disco and the not-so-subtle African vibe is right up there making this a really unique offering which totally sits in my ‘OMG I love it’ zone, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to this in the past few days and I think has just edged over to become my favourite! If I had any influence, I’d definitely be encouraging Sweden to think hard as to why they wouldn’t be picking up the phone and voting for Saraha. Afro-pop at it’s best, in my opinion!

Oscar Zia – Human

I know lots of you have been cheering Oscar’s song and performance and rightly so. Such a big anthemic song, but vocally I don’t think Oscar is the strongest of the pack, he’s good in the big chorus but left a bit vocally exposed in the verses and that does stand out to me a little bit. However drop this on the big stage we’ve got coming for us in May and I think this really could do very well for Sweden particularly in the televote, but will the jury’s be as convinced?

Ace Wilder – Don’t Worry

I sort of feel a bit like this as I do Panetoz – there are better songs that have fallen along the Melfest trail of 2016. It’s a bit quirky and the staging is imaginative and as far as vocal quality goes I think that Ace is one of the best on stage tonight, but she reminds me a bit of Julia Styles in Save The Last Dance, kind of nice little girl trying to be all ‘street’ – good song, but not for me.

Sweden’s answer to Gary Barlow but with a harmonica! Whilst I like this song, it’s quite nice and catchy, it’s just a bit non-descript to me. I do like the simple staging though, it’s nice to see a song not lost in a wave of lighting and video effects and this song is really allowed to stand on its own merits. Like I said nice song, but if Sweden pick this I reckon Ireland are safe at the top of Eurovision’s most successful.

Molly Sanden – Youniverse

Ah my Molly! If you followed me on the live blog of Molly’s heat you’ll know I was thrilled with her performance and that still is true today. Molly, for me, is the best vocalist in the pack tonight and this performance has confirmed she is definitely a hugely talented lady, this was my favourite heading into this evening but I think it’s just been nudged into second place by Saraha! Any way this goes tonight, I’ve downloaded this song and will most likely have it on my favourites playlist for a good few years to come.

Boris Rene – Put Your Love On Me

Song 9 – isn’t this the one at which you can start drinking, according to Terry Wogan?! I didn’t really like this when I first heard if, but I must say it has definitely grown on me. It’s a great pop song, which I think could do well in the charts but would it do well at Eurovision? Well I’m not so sure about that. Boris is clearly a good singer but I’m sure the juries would notice that he is a little bit sharp in places, even if the public didn’t. Again a good song but not, for me, tonight’s winner.

Frans – If I were Sorry

Tonight’s favourite, from what I can tell on social media, by quite a country mile. I think this has huge potential to do well for Sweden at Eurovision and if this was not a Eurovision song I think it would sit well on radio playlists across Europe, but as we know many radio stations are reluctant to play songs from ESC for some reason. There’s not much else really to say about this, it’s not my favourite although I do really love it, I think it will win – Sweden loves Frans and I think we are looking at the winner right there.

Wiktoria – Save Me

Wiktoria and her amazing onesie! Still giving her huge props for wearing that thing on International TV, naturally she has an amazing figure to pull it off!! I do like the song, it’s another dance floor filler, makes me want to get up and dance! I like the staging, I like the lighting and video effects, it’s something a little bit different. And vocally it suit Wiktoria’s fabulous voice and Gaga-esque style.

Samir & Viktor – Bada Nakna

Oh goodness, how did this end up here, I really don’t know. I mean it’s ok, instantly forgettable and I do question a staging decision that says ‘get your kit off boys, that’ll get some votes and hide this mediocre song’. I’m sure some will vote for the abs of Samir & Viktor, but really there can’t be that many people in Sweden who would fall for this could there?

So there are all 12 and now it’s up to Sweden to decide time to start voting! Here’s my final placement after all the performances tonight:

#MagicMic Award

I have to give my #MAGICMIKE award tonight to my favourite – I’m pretty sure she’s not going to win, but because I was driving through Cheltenham earlier on today with this song on super loud and yet again she gave a great performance of this afro-pop meets euro-pop fabulous song – my award winner tonight is the wonderful SaRaha!

Interval Act

RESULTS

Here are the jury results – I think it may goes Frans’ way tonight – don’t you think!!??!! This is also where you get to see the way that the votes will be delivered in May, if, like me, you’re still a bit unsure how it’s going to work!!

No surprises so far…

Well after all the jury’s have given their points only 1 point separates Oscar at the top on 89 and Frans just behind on 88…

Keep voting Sweden – here are the numbers…

The results are in and it’s Frans for Eurovision – what do you think? I’m pretty pleased, he was my number 3 after all!!

Whilst it wasn’t my favourite, I’m pretty sure this is not a…

Congratulations Frans, see you in Stockholm in May…

That’s the end of national selection shows for 2016 – Lithuania have decided their song tonight and that just leaves four songs to be revealed – stay tuned to Eurovision Ireland for the revealing of those songs in the next few days and then we will have our complete class of Eurovision 2016.

Thanks for joining me tonight and throughout Melodifestivalen 2016, let’s do it all again next year huh? See you in Stockholm for the BIG PARTY in May…